UA’s Lamont Library Fund will Help Preserve the Stories of Alabama’s History

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Confederate love memoirs, sheet music that inspired American troops in the world wars, and letters from freed slaves found in the dusty attic of a Greensboro plantation all serve as artifacts that have been left behind by the people who guided our nation through its most spectacular and turbulent periods.

A walk through the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library on The University of Alabama campus offers a rare vision of history through forgotten personalities. The library, found on the second floor of Mary Harmon Bryant Hall, contains many relics from the past that give a voice to those who were, in many instances, never heard in their own time. Thanks to a new fund, their history will be preserved for many generations to come.

The University of Alabama Board of Trustees recently announced the creation of The Joyce Haguewood and William Edward Lamont Endowed Library Fund. The endowment, which was made possible by contributions exceeding $15,000 from UA alumni, friends and relatives of Joyce Lamont and her late husband, William, will be used for the future preservation and acquisition of material at the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library on the Tuscaloosa campus. The funds will facilitate the gathering of print and digital materials that will assist researchers throughout the region serviced by the library.

Lamont’s work was vital to the development of the Hoole Library, which has become nationally recognized as a premier collection of materials relating to the culture, history and economy of Alabama and the South. Those materials include Confederate imprints, Alabama government publications and UA archives.

Lamont said a collection of letters from newly freed slaves is one of the most intriguing examples of the library’s many volumes. The journals and correspondence between them, which dates back to the era immediately following the Civil War, tells of their struggle to assimilate into Southern society. This struggle eventually led the freed slaves to move to Liberia.

The large collection of historical pieces from Confederate soldiers is another priceless asset to the library.

“The story of one soldier, in particular, is told through a scrapbook compiled by his family while he was away fighting,” Lamont said. “Included in the volume are newspaper clippings from battles he fought, love letters sent to his hometown sweetheart and even his pardon from a Union prison camp.”

The library also boasts the Wade Hall Collection of Southern History and Culture through a continuing gift from Union Springs native Dr. Wade Hall. The large collection contains books, sheet music, sound recordings, photographs and other materials that reflect the rich culture and deep history of the South.

Joyce Haguewood Lamont, a native of Bellamy, graduated from the Capstone in 1954. Following temporary employment by the School of Commerce Library, Lamont became a full-time employee of University Libraries in 1955. She transferred to the Special Collections Library in 1975 where she served as curator. Lamont retired from the University in 1994 after 39 years and 11 months of service.

University Archivist Emeritus Jerry Oldshue worked with Lamont for many years. He cites her knowledge of Southern history and her excellent storytelling as key elements to her successful service to UA. “Joyce always had a good story to tell and that gave her appeal to everyone,” Oldshue said. “She was always happy to aid writers by telling them more about Alabama.”

Clark Center, the current curator of the Special Collections Library, recognizes Lamont’s contributions to the library. “Joyce Lamont knew which direction that this library needed to go, and she took it in that direction,” Center said. “She was a great representative of UA, and that’s why the library is what it is today.”

Her husband, the late William “Ed” Lamont, was born in Atmore and attended the University prior to his service in the U.S. Navy. He returned to UA where he worked for the U.S. Bureau of Mines until he retired in 1980. Lamont moved to the Minerals Research Institute until retiring shortly before his death in 1994. A metallurgist by trade, Ed Lamont would often assist his wife by locating potential donors for the library in his trips around the state.